Fall Schedule

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Academic All-Americans, New Coach, Schedule Update

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It’s the dog days of summer: high heat, plenty of vacation time prior to school re-starting, nearing the end of Micki’s summer schedule… We prepare for the fall season after a hugely successful Junior Olympics with great news from the academic side of waterpolo and an important update to our fall schedule that affects Swim2Score, Masters, and HS/MS waterpolo, all our offerings actually.

AQTX Academic All-Americans

Two AquaTexans have been given Academic All-American Outstanding Honors by USA Water Polo. Kendall Strauss and Mac Morrison received the award for maintaining a 4.00 GPA or higher while participating in a National USA Water Polo event. Well done to Mac, who’s now officially an AquaTex masters athlete headed to A&M in a couple weeks, and Kendall, who will be joining us as a Swim2Score coach while she completes her senior year. Congratulations!

Fall Schedule

Already, revisions to the fall schedule. Updated now on the calendar. We again are making efforts to maximize the amount of time we have in the North (deep) pool. So, beginning August 23 is:

  • Mondays, Wednesdays, (not Thursdays)
    • 7-9 PM for high school and middle school (HS/MS).
  • Saturdays
    • high school and middle school 10 AM to noon.
  • Sundays
    • 9 AM – 11 AM, middle school athletes
    • 10 AM – noon, high school athletes
    • 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM, Swim2Score
    • 11:30 – 1:00 PM, masters (including select high school athletes)
  • Fridays, nuthin’

Coaching News

While we’re sad that Sam and Kendall are soon returning to Texas State and Austin College we are very pleased to have a new coach join us. Dominique Clark joins us after a successful career at Villanova University in the Philadelphia area. She is from Berkeley, CA and has coached previously at the very successful Lamorinda Water Polo Club and Orinda Park, where she was a youth swim coach. She’ll be leading our Swim2Score program this fall, where she’ll teach both swim and waterpolo. And we’re looking forward to having her work with our older girls as well. Welcome to AquaTex, Dom!

Competition

The Zilla Beach tournament is postponed, but Welcome to Texas Shootout is on the calendar for September 4, 5 in San Antonio. This is really the last competition of the summer and we plan to combine with Longhorn again to enter teams. Age qualification is based on age as of August 1, 2021 so our JOs teams can/will remain the same. It’s a very good tournament at one of Texas’ best facilities so let’s finish the season strong, middle school and high school athletes!

ODP Returns to Round Rock

Even though I’m not the head coach any more, ODP is tentatively returning to Round Rock for two clinics (one boys’, one girls’) on Sunday, September 19. But just because I’m not the head coach doesn’t mean I won’t be there! Once it’s officially on the USAWP calendar I’ll share it here. More info on ODP for those who are not familiar with it. Many AquaTex athletes have participated and succeeded with ODP. It’s a great way to learn a ton in a short period and play with and against some of the best in Texas with great coaches.

What are Masters and Swim2Score?

We’ve been getting a LOT of questions about our Masters and Swim2Score programs. Take a look at our updated FAQs for the info you may have been looking for, and share with friends. We want both programs to explode!

Some Admin (But Still Quite Important)

Junior Olympics Fees

Thanks to all our Junior Olympics participants who have paid for the tournament. If you have not yet done so, Venmo your $200 to me. Prompt payment appreciated so we can pay our awesome coaches for their time in Dallas.

USAWP Club Affiliation

Now that JOs are over for another year it’s time to go back in your athletes’ USA Water Polo profiles and affiliate him or her with AquaTex instead of Longhorn. And while you’re at it, if you haven’t already, update that ID headshot photo to something current.

Registration

It’s August so you should all have re-registered with AquaTex in order to continue practicing. I’ll be checking records so let me know if you have questions or issues with the process.

See you on the deck,

James

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Junior Olympics are Here, The Fall Schedule is Out, The Summer is Nearly Over

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It’s here.

Junior Olympics

Can we all just sit back and feel the excitement for this, the biggest tournament ever for our club?!

Ok, good. Now, for actual details on the tournament click here and then bookmark it. Game schedule, maps, hotels, first games, it’s all there and more.

Athletes, don’t be late to your games! For our 16u boys team expect to be ready to warm up on the deck one hour prior to every game. If there are changes to that schedule the coaches will let you know.

Training This Week and Next

Coaches are (nearly) all taking off on Wednesday for Dallas. So we train tonight (Tuesday) and then nothing again until next Tuesday. I’m off on holiday but Coaches Kendall and Alon will be having practices on our usual summer schedule beginning August 2. And Coach Marcy says we’ll have the pool to ourselves for a couple weeks. Come to practice and bring a friend (we’re expecting a few new athletes).

Swim2Score is ON for Friday, July 30. But no masters on Sunday, August 1.

Registration

Speaking of practices after JOs, you should all be aware of our price change on August 1, and that all our members are required to re-register. Let me or Coach Mark know if you’re having trouble doing so.

Fall Schedule

Our fall schedule is now on the calendar. Barring any changes, which are always possible and which I’ll share with everyone immediately, the schedule beginning August 23 is:

  • Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
    • 7-9 PM for high school and middle school. Could possibly change if numbers are big enough to require middle school-only practices. Be prepared for another weeknight, or Saturday morning, practice.
  • Fridays
    • 6-7 PM Swim2Score. We have some new coaches in mind! More news to come.
  • Sundays
    • 9 AM – 11 AM, middle school athletes
    • 10 AM – noon, high school athletes
    • 11:30 – 1:00 PM, masters (including select high school athletes)
  • Saturdays (maybe, but not yet)

See you on the deck,

James

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Two Weeks to Dallas, The Fall Schedule, Other Stuff

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Closing in on the most exciting part of the summer, our annual registration drive, and preliminary Fall scheduling.

August and The Fall

August means several things to us as a club and it’s just a couple weeks away. Here are several important bullets for AquaTex families to read.

  • All AquaTex members must re-register with the club every year by August 1. Doing so sooner than later is always a good idea. The annual registration fee is $50 for every member of the team: masters, swim, polo. Register here.
  • As I mentioned in an online meeting a couple months ago our fees for middle school and high school water polo will rise. The fee will be $110/month beginning August 1.
    • Pricing for Swim2Score, Swim/Polo, and Masters Water Polo will not change
  • Beginning August 23 the tentative schedule is:
    • Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
      • 7-9 PM for high school and middle school. Could possibly change if numbers are big enough to require middle school-only practices. Be prepared for another weeknight, or Saturday morning, practice.
    • Fridays
      • 4-5 PM Swim2Score. Very tentative, need to work it out with the swim team.
    • Sundays
      • 9 AM – 11 AM, middle school athletes
      • 10 AM – noon, high school athletes
      • 11:30 – 1:00 PM, masters (including select high school athletes)

Junior Olympics

It’s almost here. And yes, I know we all want a schedule! My sources tell me early next week is when we should hear something, which is apparently a normal number of days prior the event to get a schedule. Regardless, still no locations for all our AquaHorns teams.

Uniforms/Gear

Several have asked what athletes are expected to wear at Junior Olympics. The answer is pretty simple: AquaTex gear – especially our competition suits. If/when we are in a photo that will be shared via Longhorn’s social media then all non-Longhorn gear must be covered by a towel or something. But otherwise we want to see as much AQTX gear as possible during and between games. You are welcome and encouraged to mix in something Longhorn if you’d like.

Summer JOs Tees

Those Junior Olympics summer tee shirts are in and the cost/shirt is even lower than expected: $7.00. Come and pick yours up at practice. I shared a link to a sheet with everyone’s order. Contact me if you need the link again. And thank you to those who have already Venmo’d me.

Other Stuff (again)

Free Women’s Suit

We have a women’s size 30 AquaTex water polo suit from RYTE, our vendor (they mistakenly sent one to Coach Matt, who for some reason doesn’t want it). Matthew has graciously donated it. So, contact me if that’s the proper size and you’re interested in having it. If multiple athletes are interested I’ll use technology to randomly select one of them. #bestsuitsintexas

Training Schedule

Both Masters and Youth/HS practices are ON for the mornings of Sunday, July 18 and 25. We’ll update the schedule soon for the two weeks that follow Junior Olympics, which may include a short post-tourney break.

See you on the deck,

James